Patron Partners LLC Lowers Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Patron Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 8.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 833 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 79 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,990,052,000 after acquiring an additional 292,017 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in BlackRock by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,630,127,000 after buying an additional 435,358 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,310,762,000 after buying an additional 46,728 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $942,640,000 after acquiring an additional 22,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,962 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,053.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $156.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $658.14 and a twelve month high of $1,068.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $956.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $863.66. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Barclays upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.62.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $875.03, for a total transaction of $10,500,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,670,194.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.